Pics of Pulpmill and logyard.Berlin,NH

[sprucebunny]

[Tom]

Good pictures.  It looks like a lot of the operations around here.....lots of steam. :D

[sprucebunny]

There is also a hydro electric plant on the far side of this mill and the paper mill is 2 miles downstream. My quest this week is to find out how they move the pulp to the papermill : pipe or train. The Berlin Mills Railway is very active and has daily (or maybe twice) trains over to Groveton , about 30 miles away, where there is another mill.
There is a good size commercial sawmill a couple miles north , on the river, also.

[Phorester]

Being only 60 miles west of Washington DC, I see a lot of hot air like that too.

[RSteiner]

Years ago I drove by that site I remember a very characteristic fragrance in the air when one approached Berlin.
I don't know if the air is cleaner now with all the EPA regulations, I would hope so.

A few years ago I drove by a large operation in northern Maine, I think it was in Millinocket (sp).  It had a log yard that was huge.  There was no question about how they moved logs all one had to do was drive a few miles down any road and there was usually a log truck coming at you, fast.

Is this a softwood pulp mill or do they use hardwood also?  In the southern part of the state the firewood dealers are complaining that a lot of hardwood is going for pulp and fuel chips.  They say this is driving up the price of cordwood for fuel.  I think the price of heating oil is having more effect on the price of firewood.

I read a book called Tall Trees and Tough Men which chronicles the logging industry in your neck of the woods.  Back then most of the pulp and saw logs were moved down the rivers.

Randy

[Oldtimer]

I too have read "Tall trees, Tough Men", EXCELLENT read! There are other books by the same author about logging,river drives, and lore.

I suggest you also go find a copy of "High Sheriff", written by a Man who lived in Ossipee and was a logger, forester/cruiser, Sheriff, and all around local legend. He writes in the book (He was doing all this from 1918-1950 era) about cruising a timber lot in Northern NH, and he claims it had 90,000 feet of Spruce on just one acre. Those were the days. My ancestors are even mentioned in one part, I think..
The Ossipee Town Library has a few copies of this book. Perhaps a call to them could get you info you need to get a copy in your local library.

[sprucebunny]

They use both hard and soft wood. The log yard is about twice what's in the picture. [edit] discovered that it is now a hardwood mill. In the past, it was softwood.[/]
The air may be cleaner but it smells the same  ;)
I've read "Tall Trees ,Tough Men" also.Really enjoyed it.
I'll look for the "High Sheriff" one. Another book about the area, published more recently and containing more about  the individuals that presently shape the region in addition to the recent history is "The Northern Forest"

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Nice thread, Bunny. Very good photos.  8) 8)

  Air down here, around the Paper Mills, has a distinct, nose and throat burning odor.

[rebocardo]

Thank you for the pictures, makes me sort of home sick, I miss the northern woods/nights sometimes. Nothing like a clear cold night and watching the clear sky in the back of a pick up.

[hosslog]

Sprucebunny, I have a video copy of some training/information films made by the "Brown Company of Berlin N.H." in the early 40's.Shows them unloading pulp directly into the river. The river served as "a natural conveyor to the mill". Some change is good.




Ira

[sprucebunny]

Hosslog---That must be an interesting film and of historical value.

For Rebocardo and others interested in the river, I started a seperate thread about the river and boom piers.

[Ron Scott]

Sprucebunny,

Do you know if much of the Berlin Mill's wood comes off of the White Mountain National Forest?

[sprucebunny]

Ron--- As in other areas of the country, there has been contention about cutting on national lands . The White Mtn National Forest is rather spread out and though I occasionally see a request for bids in the paper, I don't know if they are completed.
At the present , a lot of land has changed hands from being owned by the mill/corporation to being owned by individuals and large timber investors.
I'll try to find out ,though.

[hosslog]

Sprucebunny,It's a Northeast Historic Film.They're located in Maine. There is only about 5 minutes on the mill. Interesting to see the contrast between your pics and the film. Hills havn't changed much. ;D

[isawlogs]

That mill .. would it a kraft pulp mill... We have a mill like that here where as a blind man knows where he is when ya get close... They use a chlorine sulfure mixte to break down the wood to make the pulp.....

[sprucebunny]

Marcel--It's a 265,000 ton hardwood Kraft pulpmill. The pulp is transported in a pipeline 2 miles down to the 200,000 ton paper mill which makes three grades of paper : tissue , book paper and one half of production is specialty paper called "lightweight opaque and technical specialties"
There are six hydro-electric dams along ten miles of the Androscoggin that produce power for the mills.

[isawlogs]

I thought it would be a kraftpulp mill..... they do open up one nasal passages when you get near them ;D

[simonmeridew]

The best thing you can say about the smell is, "It's the smell of money". Otherwise there's not much else to do in Berlin/Gorham
simonmeridew

[sprucebunny]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, simonmeridew.

Yup, the smell of employment in the 'city that trees built '.

[thecfarm]

I come from a paper company town and "It smells like money here too".There's another one about 45 minutes up river and it smells the same way there.Get use to and don't hardly notice it after awhile.

[SwampDonkey]

Sprucebunney, most mills will give you a tour of their operations. I think they prefer small groups for the tour. Maybe if you ask them, they have a scheduled tour.

I smell the Nackawick mill in every SE wind. Of course if was idle for awhile and now it's gearing up to go again.

[sprucebunny]

The pulp mill in Berlin is closing May 6. Permanently. Fraser Papers does not intend to sell it ... they will announce any plans after May 6.

250 people will be layed off with an average age of 54.

The paper mill just south in Gorham will continue to operate.

I will have to find out where they are going to get pulp ???

[SwampDonkey]

JDI, I could almost guarantee it. I know they have a Mainway down there and Irving Oil is in Berlin also. ;)

[sprucebunny]

The mill has been closed since May and was recently sold to a "Wrecking and Dismantling" company. It has not been decided what will happen to the $30 million (? ) generating station.

[SwampDonkey]

They've temporarily shut a sawmill in Plaster Rock. They did the same back in July I think. Some folks fear it's permanent.  I think the mill is continuing deliveries, so it may be an inventory problem. A person hears all kinds of stories from alot of people that aren't in the know. (speculators). Kind of makes me worry for suppliers because I've seen mills in the past continue taking deliveries, and all the sudden they close up and use those unpaid deliveries to pay creditors.  (of course that's my speculation here) :


That mill in Berlin was a Fraser mill wasn't it? I didn't go back and read all the posts.